Palma, Mallorca, October 2015 for a week - report by Bernard Smyth

Becky Goddard, skipper, with crew of Michael Mahady, Bob Hayes and Bernard Smyth. The boat, a Bavaria 40 2008 chartered from Nautilus, via Cruesa, their agents in Palma, seemed to be a “bitsa” - cobbled together from more than one yacht. It was named Kalima but the paperwork referred mysteriously to Kalima Uno. It was a bit tired and had an incredibly stiff throttle.

The original plan was to maybe tour the whole island, but the forecast was not good for this so we went east and north to Porto Petro and Porto Cristo, then back and south to Cabrera, an island part of a national park, then back to Palma. Several places had poor shelter and we had some bumpy nights. Porto Petro was said in the guide to have anchoring but we found that buoys had been installed and one cost us €25 a night. In Porto Cristo, we tried in vain to anchor in the approach to the marina in quirky winds and current, and eventually moored stern to on a sailing club quay at great cost €75. Cabrera also has buoys as anchoring is not allowed in the national park. Cost €17. Crew members under the age of 80 went ashore for a look around and a climb up to the imposing castle that seemed to “grow” out of the rocky hill but they reported little wildlife.

Winds varied in the week from nil to 31-knot gusts and we had some good sailing in the afternoons as the wind sprang up, including most of the return to Palma.